Generally Used as a Predicative

to be accustomed	to	to be (dis)pleased	with/at
to be used	to	to be surprised	at
to be absorbed	in	to be tired	of
to be engrossed	in	to be disappointed	with

 

FUNCTIONS OF GERUND

 

FUNCTIONS	PREPOSITIONS	EXAMPLES
SUBJECT	________	Translating such texts is rather difficult.*** It is no use translating this text without a dictionary.
PREDICATIVE	____/like **	My problem is getting to sleep on time. I don’t feel like going to bed yet.
PART OF A COMPOUND VERBAL ASPECTIVE PREDICATE	________	He   began kept on stopped translating the novel
DIRECT OBJECT *	_________	He suggested going to the museum. He denies having met her.
PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT *	of, about, on, in, for, from, at, to, etc.**	He insisted on going home. She was not conscious of having shown any special interest in Tom.
ATTRIBUTE	of, about, in, at, for, to **	He was busy and gave up the idea of going to the seaside.
AM of TIME	after, before, on, in, at	She looked at him steadily before answering.
AM of PURPOSE	for, for fear of, for the sake of, for the purpose of	He wants to visit a solicitor tomorrow for the purpose of making a new will.
AM of CONDITION	without, but for	He won’t go without saying good-bye.
AM of CAUSE *	for, through, owing to, for fear of, due to, because of	Through being left out all night in the rain, the metal had rusted. He felt better for having written the letter.
AM of ATTENDANT* CIRCUMSTANCES	without, instead of	He went away instead of working. He arrived at the age of forty-five without having once appeared upon a stage.
AM of CONCESSION	in spite of, despite	In spite of being busy, she managed to translate the text.
AM of MANNER	in, by	Her evening was spent in reading.
AM of COMPARISON	_________	The country is much better for you than working in the hot city all summer.
* In these cases the Perfect Gerund may occur. ** The choice of these prepositions is determined by V, A, N. *** The Gerund would not occur after “essential”, “important”, “necessary”.

Predicative Constructions with the Gerund

Like all the verbals the gerund can form predicative constructions, i.e. constructions in which the verbal element expressed by the gerund is in predicate relation to the nominal element expressed by a noun or a pronoun, e.g.:

I don’t like your going off without any money.

Note: Some grammarians recognize the existence of the two separate constructions:

the Gerundial Construction – the nominal element of which is expressed by a noun in the genitive case or by a possessive pronoun and

the Half-Gerundial Construction – the nominal element of which is expressed by a noun in the common case, a pronoun in the objective case, or a pronoun which has no case distinctions.

 

The nominal element of the construction can be expressed in different ways:

1. by a noun in the genitive case or by a possessive pronoun, e.g.:

Do you mind Jack’s (his) smoking?

I insist on Mary’s (her) going there.

The Gerundial Construction

2. by a noun in the common case, e.g.:

#Fancy David courting Emily!

The Half-Gerundial Construction

Note: Thus in Modern English there are two parallel constructions of the type:

Fancy David’s courting Emily!

Fancy David courting Emily!

3. by a pronoun in the objective case, e.g.:

I hope you will forgive me disturbing you.

The Half-Gerundial Construction

4. by a pronoun which has no case distinctions, such as all, this, that, both, each, something, e.g.:

I insist on both of them coming.

The Half-Gerundial Construction

A gerundial construction is nearly always rendered in Russian by a subordinate clause, generally introduced by те, що; тим, що; як, etc.

His being a foreigner, an ex-enemy, was bad enough.

Her thoughts were interrupted at last, by the door opening gently.

I began to picture to myself … my being found dead in a day or two, under some hedge.